Anywhere
by xnyre
Summary: There's only so long you can dance around feelings before someone slips up.


A/N: I struggle with finding wholesome good NaruSaku stories so I figured, I might as well write my own. When Naruto first came out, I was 12 and loved the idea of SasuSaku. The older I got, the more I wanted Naruto and Sakura to get together. They had been through so much, and had been each other's pillar of hope and support that it just made sense that Sakura could be allowed to love someone else and still love Sasuke but not in a romantic way. I'm not mad at the end canon pairs seeing as it made sense and was quite obvious but I still am forever bitter about how Naruto's feelings for Sakura were never addressed seriously and Sakura's fake confession was how we got to see it technically "end". If there was was a moment where Naruto confessed his feelings and Sakura rejected him and we got to see Naruto move on then I think I would've been more okay with it. But enough about my hurt feelings lol. It's my first real take on these two character's interacting so I hope I did them justice. Enjoy.

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Sakura was awake long before the shattering of glass reached her ears from down the hall. It was late into the night, probably a little past midnight, when she felt the familiar chakra signature wander around outside her apartment before finally making its way through her kitchen window. She knew the person belonging to the signature was just returning from a week long mission and figured they were just crashing here for the night. Her apartment was closer to the village gates than theirs. Sakura tried closing her eyes, hoping no more disturbances would keep her from sleep before more shattering glass forced her up.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me." Sakura grumbled angrily before flinging her sheets off and making her way out the room.

The light pouring out from her kitchen into the short hall before her room made her eyes squint. The cold wood floor sent shivers through her bare feet as she padded her way into the kitchen and was greeted by the back of her teammate's golden blonde head.

The cabinets that contained her cups were left wide open. Naruto bent down to hastily clean up the broken glass that lay on her kitchen floor with a small brush and dustpan. She stood there silently waiting for her teammate to acknowledge her presence until she realized something was off. Naruto swayed a little in his crouched position before placing a hand on the floor to steady himself and shaking his head.

A worried crease formed on her forehead. "Naruto," She called and saw his shoulders tense at being caught. "What are you doing?"

The blonde turned and Sakura immediately noticed his flushed face and noted it was definitely not due to embarrassment at getting caught making a mess in her apartment. He gave her a sheepish grin and waved the hand holding the brush in greeting. "Hey Sakura-chan, did I wake you up? Sorry, I didn't mean to be so loud."

Sakura made her way over to him and placed her hand against his whiskered cheek. Her eyes widened in shock at how hot he felt. Naruto was a natural furnace and always burned a little warmer than normal but his temperature now had her wondering how the hell he was still up. "You're burning up, you need to lay down idiot," Sakura chastised.

Naruto closed his eyes and leaned into her touch and hummed contently. "You feel good S'kura-chan. Cold." He mumbled.

"C'mon you big oaf, let's get you to my couch at least." Sakura offered, slipping the dustpan and brush from his hands and placing them on the floor before moving under Naruto's arm and lifting him up.

"Sak'ra-chan, the glass," Naruto protested weakly. "You'll get mad if I don't clean it."

Sakura huffed a laugh. "Don't worry about it Naruto, I'll clean it later."

Naruto made a noncommittal sound and Sakura adjusted his weight against her side before slowly making her way into her living room. She gently placed him sitting on her couch and took a moment to examine his appearance. He had a few light scratches on his cheeks, most likely from traveling too fast through the forests. His jacket was unzipped halfway down to reveal the badges wrapping his torso underneath his mesh shirt. Sakura clucked her tongue at the haggard state he was in. Knowing him, he probably forgoed cleaning whatever wound was under those wraps to get home quicker and was now most likely infected and causing his fever. The regenerating powers of the Kyuubi was the most likely the reason he was still even awake instead of passed outside the village.

Sakura knelt between his knees and moved to unzip his jacket and push it off his shoulders. She folded it and placed it over the arm of the couch. She made quick work of cutting his mesh shirt and tossed the scraps to the side to be thrown away. Naruto's eyes blinked back open slowly and was greeted by Sakura's face being very close to his as she moved to slip off his headband.

"You're s'pretty." He quietly said, causing Sakura to stop her attempts at the headband's knot and look into Naruto's glassy eyes. He had a small lopsided grin on his face and Sakura felt the back of her neck began to heat up. She gave one hard tug and the headband came free.

"You have a fever," She informed, clearing her throat and attempting to fall into her professional medic role. "I'm going to heal your wound but it won't cause the fever to break. You'll need to rest and get plenty of fluids in you," She leaned back on her haunches before lifting herself up from her position between his legs and gently laying his headband on his jacket. "You can stay here for the night so I can keep an eye on you and we'll see how you're faring in the morning."

Naruto didn't respond but his stupid grin stayed in place and his eyes didn't leave hers. Sakura averted her gaze, suddenly feeling a bit flustered. "I'll be right back." She mumbled before making her way to the linen closet in her hall.

She took a moment to herself to breath. This was just Naruto. Silly, knuckleheaded Naruto wandering into her kitchen after another mission _again._ This had been going on for the past 4 months now when he was sent on a long mission without her. He would come stumbling into her apartment at any hour of the day to greet her and she would complain about having to reset her traps.

Naruto would grin and apologize and Sakura would huff and puff before making sure he was okay. He never mentioned that she stopped putting traps around her kitchen window and she never mentioned the hospital was only a few roof hops away. They continued this new ritual never really acknowledging it despite both knowing something had changed. Something shifted within their friendship.

Sakura always knew Naruto had somewhat of a crush on her. It wasn't until he eyes roamed a little too often over her when he thought she wasn't looking that she began to notice him a little more. Sakura began innocently leaving lingering touches on his skin to see how he would react. Finger brushing here, palm cupping his cheek there, a hand sliding down an arm. She knew she was fanning a flame that might've been better left forgotten-not for her sake but for his.

He rejected her once, albeit under more… stressful circumstances… and continued to keep her at arms lengths after that. Her own mind had been a torrent of emotions at the time and thus, couldn't properly work through and identify every single one of them. It wasn't until after the war had settled and things began to calm down did she start to realize the distance that had grown between them.

After Sasuke's departure Sakura felt like she could breathe. She loved him, but felt like it was her duty to do so. She felt guilty at the thought of letting go. For so long she held out for him, for so long she and Naruto fought for him and now he was back and while he still made her heart race and cheeks heat, it didn't complete her. When he left, she felt hollow and not because he took a piece of her with him. It was more like he filled her temporarily, he distracted her from acknowledging the bigger picture. The idiot sunshine boy in her life had somehow made his way deep into the cracks that littered her heart and filled every crevice. Sakura didn't realize how much of her life consisted of _Naruto,_ that upon being forced to finally acknowledge what had always been there, it almost brought her to tears.

Despite this revelation, Sakura was unable to act upon it due to Konohagakure still trying to rebuild itself. For months medics were sent into overdrive at the hospital, either working double or triple shifts to meet the demand of ninjas still suffering injuries, physically and mentally, from the war.

Naruto didn't see much of her during this time besides for checkups with Tsunade concerning his right arm. She would smile and greet him and he would permanently wear a look of concern on his face at her worn down appearance but wisely never said anything.

Summer rolled in as the demand at the hospital slowed down. Sakura finally had room to just _breathe_ and requested she only be summoned to the hospital for dire cases for the following month. During the patient surge at the hospital Sakura successfully buried any feelings that had resurfaced about Naruto. She didn't have time to sort through and figure out what she wanted to do with those feelings and so they went on the backburner and were forgotten for more important matters. The absence in each other's lives didn't help either but by this point she thought, maybe it was for the best.

She hurt him once before with her feelings, she didn't want to do it again.

Until he showed up at her door with oranges.

The August heat radiated into her open doorway as she stood in front of Naruto who held up a bag of fruit and his usual lopsided grin. He said hey and she said hey and neither spoke of how long it had been since they last saw each other or raven haired teammates. Naruto visited Sakura every other day if the hospital didn't summon her that month. He brought different fruits each time and they would sit on her living room floor with sliced fruit and laughs between them. The tradition changed from every other day to every Saturday at Ichiraku's after Sakura returned to active duty at the hospital.

This is when she began to notice a change. Sai would sometimes join them and while she would turn to talk to him, she would feel Naruto's heavy gaze on her. It was different-_felt_ different than usual. His gaze loaded with unsaid words that Sakura tried her best to ignore. He would hug her goodbye longer than usual and she would take advantage, burying her face into his jacket to hide her burning cheeks. They felt the heaviness of what needed to be said hang between them but as always, she smiled, he grinned, and both said nothing.

Fall quickly rolled in on a chilly breeze and Naruto's senju cell arm was officially deemed a success and was cleared to return to active duty. Naruto turned down a spot in ANBU stating that he couldn't move up through the ranks unless it was with his teammates. They both knew he only meant her, seeing as how Sasuke had yet to contact either of them since his departure. Sakura looked over to Naruto who was lounging on her living room floor not long after that and promised, "Just give me a little more time, I'm needed here first."

Naruto plucked a grape from the the bowl between them. "I know Sakura-chan." He grinned before tossing the fruit into his mouth.

Sakura felt affection towards her teammate swell in her chest and while not quite ready to voice those feelings in fear of possibly hurting him, she instead placed her hand against his cheek and quietly thanked him. The lingering touches and gazes continued and was soon followed by Naruto's house calls.

Sakura pushed her bangs behind her ears and let out one last exhale before returning to the task at hand. She stood on her tiptoes to reach the first aid kit on the top shelf and placed it beneath her arm before also grabbing a blanket from the shelf below it. She made her way back into the livingroom to find Naruto's eye closed. Apparently having dozed off much to her relief.

Sakura placed the blanket beside Naruto and resumed her spot between his legs. She opened the medical kit and brought out fresh bandages and ointment before setting to work and removing the soiled wrappings.

The gash alongside his ribs was an angry inflamed red. Sakura immediately recognized it as poison and began healing the wound with chakra. She made quick work of metabolizing the low tier poison running through his veins. After double checking his system for any remains, and being satisfied when she found none, she began applying the cooling antibiotic. Sakura trusted the Kyuubi to take care of the rest.

Naruto let out an immediate sigh of relief the moment she spread the ointment on him. Sakura looked up to observe his sleeping face and took in the silence between them. He had been gone for a week on a simple mission on the border of Fire and Wind country and while she would grill him on being more careful for enemy ninjas even when traveling between friendly territory, another more prominent feeling was bubbling its way up.

She missed him.

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and twisted the cap closed on the ointment before reaching for the bandages.

"Hey," Sakura called, shaking his knee a little to wake him up. Naruto blearily opened his eyes looking a little dazed before focusing on Sakura. "I know you don't feel good, but I need you to sit up so I can wrap the wound." She gently coaxed.

Naruto blinked slowly before moving forward and wincing slightly. Sakura said nothing as he placed his forehead in the junction of her neck and shoulder and let out a soft sigh of relief against her neck. She stopped herself from leaning into him and instead began the task of rebandaging him.

They sat in silence before she spoke, "You need to be more careful. I'm not always going to be here to heal you."

"... Where will you be?"

Sakura's hands paused at his muffled reply. "I don't know. Anywhere."

Naruto shifted to loosely wrap his arms around her. "If Sakura-chan is going to be anywhere… then I want to be anywhere too."

Sakura huffed out a laugh before tucking the bandage securely in place. "A future Hokage can't just leave the village whenever they want."

She rested her hands lightly against his hips and waited for his reply. The silence stretched on and Sakura thought maybe he had fallen asleep. She shifted slightly to get up but his limp hold on her tightened.

"... I wouldn't want to be Hokage if you're not there with me."

Words that haven't been admitted between them were now coming out in a roundabout way. Naurto's admission was as close to a confession as he could get without outright saying it. Sakura wondered if he'd even remember any of this after resting. It scared her how much she wanted to lean into it. Into him, into his confession, into her own feelings. The thought of it scared her as much as it comforted her.

But the fear of hurting him again bubbled it's way back into her mind.

Instead of responding, she returned his embrace and placed her own head against his shoulder, letting his warmth and scent envelope her. He smelled of pine and healing ointment. Whether it was her imagination or not, a slight smell of oranges too.

"You smell good Sakura-chan." His lips moved against her neck as he spoke. Sakura felt herself warm up at the touch. She nodded her head.

"You do too…."

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Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. This'll most likely be a two-shot so see you soon.


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